To discount those things about the world that we do not like as not our own, is a dangerous style of denial.
In the words of my friend Alan Clements “often the most simple of our day to day choices collude with the apparatus of conformity and make us all somewhat complicit in the global nature of violence, greed and delusion”. What is the flavor of denial? Of genocide, rape and war? Is it tiger-tiger? Or vanilla? How do we extricate ourselves from this dilemma? How can we innovate our collective freedom? One Kind Mind is about lightness, love and a sense of brave optimism in the face of great challenges but it is not about naivety. We have some major issues to face as individuals and as a collective if we are to survive, let alone thrive. And so let us recognize this darkness but let us also focus on the light. To quote Alan one more time, “Let us look not to the darkness between the pedals in the flower of life but to where there is light, H2O and oxygen. What is the oxygen of our freedoms? The water of our love? The soil of our ground?” Is OKM the answer? Is the app the map?
With the pace of technology moving so fast it is easy to have fears and anxieties about the future. In fact, it's intuitively correct. But fear should not stop us from moving forward.
To recoil in the horror of our machinations would be to let our children run the household or as my brother says, “to throw an anchor down when you're running full steam”. But indeed, this whole global reality can be overwhelming to put lightly. And even worse, we may have to drop that anchor! Nature, for all of its beauties and horrors, of which we are a part, has a deep unity to it. It is perhaps our industrialized disconnection from these natural rhythms that has us in such a state of shock and panic about our modern world. We need to re-wild! To reconnect with nature, whether it is a garden in the city or a hike up the mountain before it is too late. Sharpen our minds, enliven our spirits and apply ourselves in action to fight the good fight as it were. But what if our efforts are in vain?
Many of the answers we need to our local and global challenges are out there but sharing them for no one to hear can drain us at our best. Divide we, the caring, the love and the kind, are conquered. I truly believe that this we, however, is everybody.
Every time we cast a stone it only skips once and so we stop trying. We are beaten down and we feel impotent and powerless. You almost want to get mad at this company or that company but is anyone listening and is anyone to actually blame? What would we accomplish? This is the nature of our digital architecture; our digital ecosystem. You may want to run 100 m forward but if there is a wall 10 m in front of you this is just not possible. The shape of capitalism is often less kind to the well intended than it is to the well endowed. The systems that have evolved for us may have been well intended but they have been corrupted. When we realize that our efforts to share things of social value will go un-engaged, we stop sharing. I mean who wants to sacrifice their online social image and become one of those irritating do-gooders? Or even worse try and not even be noticed? In an article on Varitety.com they point to a pattern of advertising companies sending out keyword block-lists to companies like Vice, that include: Bisexual, Black Lives Matter, Black People, Gay, LGBTQ, Transgender, HIV, Lesbian, Gender, Queer, Feminist, Pregnant, Interracial, Middle Eastern, Arab, Asian, Latina/o, Jewish, Muslim, Islamic, Christian, Hijab, Global Warming, Climate Change, Refugee, Immigrant, and Overweight/Fat. “it was sent the very same week that the corporation issued a statement in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.” I guess the above issues just don't bring in enough honey! But wait, these are our issues! The very things I want to hear about! The fear of rejection controls us, paralyses us into conformity. Not the kind of unity we should be striving for and it is slowly swallowing the planet unless we find ourselves soon.
The questions about our personal and collective health that are being raised around the world know no borders, race or age and despite the social distancing, are truly an opportunity for us to all come together as a planet.
I mean if we can pull this off for Covid19 can we pull it off for our climate crisis? If we can't focus beyond covid19, will it be at the expense of our climate and consequently, the survival of everyone? Our survival will depend on it. Together, grounded in the present and connected with our missions, intentions and inspiration, we can unify our common goals: goals for equality, goals for our grandchildren, goals for personal and collective freedom. We are literally all in this together! |
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